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B−History
History · Caledonia Township

Caledonia Township’s post office opened in 1843

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #381 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Most of Caledonia Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1918 on, and the census since 1880.

1843first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Caledonia Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Caledonia Township began

When was Caledonia Township founded?

1843

The Caledonia Township post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1888. Six smaller post offices, Caledonia (1843), Brownville (1855) and North Brownville (1855), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 340 in 18802020 census: 15,811183 years

How historic is Caledonia Township?

B−

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Caledonia Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1888.
History grade

What drives Caledonia Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Caledonia Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #381 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Caledonia Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1843, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19408.4% of homes (±5.3) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 48%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 46%

Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Caledonia Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1888.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Caledonia Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Caledonia Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1843: 183 years of Caledonia Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Caledonia
1843–1877
Brownville
1855–1855
North Brownville
1855–1868
Alaska
1868–1906
Caledonia Station
1870–1894
Labarge
1876–1901
Caledonia
1894–today
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AlaskaCaledoniaCountry Meadows Village Mobile Home ParkHoly CornersLabarge
Gone or out of use
Alaska Post Officepost officeCaledonia StationlocaleLabarge Post Officepost office
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Caledonia Township
Alaska MemorialBarberDanielsHoly CornersLakesideSaint Patrick's

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Caledonia Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Caledonia Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewM-6, M-37 interchange incomplete: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Caledonia Township, 1843 to 1918

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1843Post officeThe Caledonia post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Brownville post office opens
  4. 1855Post officeThe Brownville post office closes
  5. 1855Post officeThe North Brownville post office opens
  6. 1868Post officeThe North Brownville post office closes
  7. 1877Post officeThe Caledonia post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Caledonia Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Caledonia Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Caledonia is a village in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,622 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Caledonia Township about 15 miles (24.1 km) southeast of downtown Grand Rapids.

Its first post office opened in 1843. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 12,332 to 15,811 (+28%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Caledonia Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
M-6, M-37 interchange incompleteDate?M-6, M-37 interchange incomplete
Today3 recent
Caledonia (1)2021Caledonia (1)Holy Family-Caledonia2020Holy Family-CaledoniaMIMap-doton-Caledonia2005MIMap-doton-Caledonia
On the map

Caledonia Township on the map in 1918

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Caledonia Township.

Caledonia Township on the 1918 USGS map1918Lowell sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Caledonia Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

M-6, M-37 interchange incomplete
Retake this viewM-6, M-37 interchange incomplete

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Caledonia Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Caledonia Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,800188019001920194019601980200020201,622

Grew from 340 people in 1880 to 1,622 in 2020, 4 times over.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Caledonia Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bowne TownshipIts storyBCascade Township2 historic placesCThornapple Township2 historic placesBGaines TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Caledonia Township’s history

What year was Caledonia Township founded?

The Caledonia Township post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.

How does Caledonia Township rank for history?

Caledonia Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #381 of 701 in Michigan. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Caledonia Township?

8% of Caledonia Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1999.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.